Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 210 Hello, Brother Mishka

Dresden is the capital of Saxony and also the largest city, but Solovyov himself had a headache after passing through so many places along the way.

After all, these places in Saxony are divided very fragmentedly due to various historical reasons, which is much more complicated than the situation in Mecklenburg where there are only two families.

In Thuringia and Saxony, there are many places belonging to several duchies with the name of Saxony, and Dresden is the largest one among these duchies. The one that discussed the issue of marriage with Maria was Saxe-Weimar.

It is estimated that if Qin Shihuang came to Germany, he would die on the spot. After all, the degree of interweaving of the territories of various parties is at a whole new level, and the territories are shattered to pieces, especially in the western part of Saxony.

But they were all descendants of the Electors of Saxony, and the division of the territory into small pieces changed constantly depending on the period and for various reasons.

Of course, the issue of Maria's marriage was only being discussed in St. Petersburg at the moment and had not been put on the agenda. Solovyov still heard some details when he was hugging Louisa in bed.

The focus now was on Dresden. He had come here to visit Vasily Vasilyevich and to walk to the suburbs to find his house.

Many Russian nobles like to buy properties abroad. The properties that Prince Menshikov transferred in the Netherlands and London were all handled by Solovyov's grandfather. Now these nobles each have their own channels.

Solovyov once asked Baron Sergei nearby, but he only mentioned that if the property was transferred abroad and there was no suitable manager in the local area, and these masters did not go to Europe to settle down themselves, their property would be easily seized, just like the case of the Tauride Palace.

However, Vasily Vasilyevich did not belong to this category, because he often went abroad and had his own property in Dresden. However, when he lived somewhere else, he always rented a place as his official residence.

This was also what Russian nobles often did in the next hundred years. In order to have a place to stay abroad, they often purchased real estate in France, Italy and Switzerland in advance so that they had a place to live.

When he arrived at the prince's residence, Solovyov even saw his servants. Even though he had moved from St. Petersburg to Dresden, the master seemed to prefer to use people he was more familiar with.

"Hello, I am Mikhail Soloviev, a major in the Guards from Petersburg, and I want to see Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Dolgorukov, your master."

He is also a retired lieutenant general and a retired and serving Privy Councillor, which is a second-class senior civil servant position.

"Sir, the master is not at home now. The two young masters have gone to France to study. Only the lady and the young lady are at home."

"Ah, I'll come back another day then."

"You are an officer in the uniform of the Guards, and you are also a master. Our lady said that the master will be back tomorrow, and you have come all the way from Petersburg, so you might as well stay here. Besides, when the lady heard that it was you, she would stay here too. If there is anything, we can wait until the master comes back to discuss it."

This family has always been very hospitable and they are considered to be very kind people among the nobles. The prince himself is a well-known philanthropist. When he was wandering around the Imperial Village, he could even meet them out hunting.

In addition, younger sister Julia always corresponded with the eldest daughter of the family, Catherine. The two children corresponded across such a long distance between St. Petersburg and Dresden. Even if they only wrote once a quarter, there was no postal system, but the postage was still there.

It is very interesting that these two children had almost opposite personalities when they met in St. Petersburg, one was lively and the other was well-behaved, but they became very good friends.

After entering the mansion, Solovyov also met the princess, who was the only daughter of Marshal Prince Bariatinsky.

"It's Misha from the Soloviev family. Come over and sit down. After all, old Vasya has asked your father to help manage some of his property. And my daughter Katish has always corresponded with your sister. Although our two families live far away, they are familiar with each other. How are your family?"

"Everything is fine, ma'am, and thank you for hosting me here."

"Even when we were in St. Petersburg and at the manor, we often had guests staying overnight, especially those we knew. Your father even wrote to tell him about the manor near Moscow. After he took over, he discovered that there were a lot of debts, almost 200,000 rubles, which is not a small amount. But you are an aide-de-camp to the emperor, so there is no point in telling you this. You want to make a name for yourself on the battlefield, unlike your father who is a professional manager."

In fact, their family inherited the craft of "profiteer" from their ancestors, which means that they could last long in this business because of their good reputation. Moreover, among the four brothers, Fyodor's family had always been the loyal steward of Prince Menshikov's family, and even when Prince Sergei Menshikov, a member of the Privy Council, was in power, they were also helping to manage some of the property. In this way, their reputation in the industry was not bad. However, although the prince's family had regained some power, they were not familiar with their family, and only knew that they had moved to the countryside.

But I also know one thing, that is, even such a large noble family is heavily in debt. Although the number of serfs in their family is also quite astonishing, Prince Vasily is always clamoring to liberate some serfs. But their family is so indebted that even if they liberate the serfs, they will probably go bankrupt.

Solovyov would not talk about the things about the manor, but the princess called the servants over to entertain them and brought coffee, bacon, bread and fruit.

"I see you must be in a hurry to get here. You must be very hungry, right?"

"Not really. I ate some rusks on the way here."

The Princess's wife was very hospitable and looked noble and elegant. She was only 32 years old.

When they were in St. Petersburg, there were quite a few outrageous rumors, but the circumstances of how this couple, who were 17 years apart in age, met was also quite interesting, and even the one-eyed Potemkin appeared among them.

In fact, the "little fairy"'s philanthropic love for handsome young officers may be somewhat similar to that of her great-uncle. After all, Prince Potemkin himself was not easily satisfied even with his beautiful niece by his side, apart from his romantic affairs with the empress.

However, the more this is the case, the more likely it is to get the opposite result. After Prince Bagration married her, this combination was even more exaggerated than the "Black Duke" and Mary.

After all, the "fierce Zhang Fei" in Brunswick looked really good after removing his beard.

Now let's look back at the Princess's wife. She is indeed very beautiful, but this is what I heard from Madame Le Brun and Julie. Women love gossip, especially the picky painter mother and daughter who always like to comment on the appearance of their customers. Among men, I only heard that they praised Count Stroganov and Alexander, but women were praised more often.

There is actually a replica here, and the composition looks like Madame Le Brun's work, but the details don't seem to be as fine.

"Misha, are you looking at that portrait?"

"Yes, madam, I think this painting was once hung in your house on Bolshaya Moskovskaya Street. I heard my father mention that your favorite portrait was that of Madame Le Brun." "Madame Le Brun's painting skills are indeed excellent. I heard that she left Petersburg."

"Because now that there is peace, the French people are homesick, and she is one of the exiles who was pardoned and immigrated overseas, so naturally she has to go back. And her daughter Julie, her son-in-law Mr. Guerin, and her two granddaughters, the whole family has to go back to Paris."

"God bless you, this should be her wish. After all, she has lived in Paris for the past few decades. A series of unfortunate events made her run all the way from Italy to St. Petersburg."

"Wouldn't that be nice?"

While Solovyov was chatting with the princess, two little girls appeared on the stairs.

Solovyov knew that the older girl was Ekaterina, Yulia's good friend, who was now 11 years old. Although she was still young, she had a very beautiful figure. She was leading the prince's youngest daughter, 4-year-old Sofia.

There was also a boy named Alexander, but he died a few months after birth.

"Sonia, I have to thank you for helping me grow up like this."

"Hey? Why me?"

"Many of the ladies of Petersburg know that the herbs and donkey-hide glue sold by Count Bobulinsky were your inventions."

What the princess said was a bit confusing, but one thing was clear: the health regulations that Solovyov wrote anonymously to Paul must have played a role. In addition, the donkey-hide gelatin and the other tonics must have been used by the princess, and they played a role in preserving the fetus.
He himself doesn't even know the positioning of this "friend of women".

After all, Solovyov rarely attended social occasions in recent years. He was always in the barracks or by the side of the Tsar. Officers rarely went to social occasions, while civil servants and eunuchs went more often. Therefore, he even ignored some rumors.

No one talked about this in front of him, but it was only a matter of time before he was discovered. After all, some anonymous things would be exposed.

As for Ekaterina, when she greeted him, her words were very amusing.

"Bonjour, monsieur chatte de chat."

Although it is the same language as the little gray mouse, it is completely French.

"Katherine, why am I 'Mr. Cat'?"

"Because of the way you walk, Brother Mishka, how is Yulia doing lately?"

Come to think of it, Solovyov's walking posture does look more like TOM carrying a rapier. This might be because this image appeared in the illustration that Yulia mailed to her.

"She went to the girls' school in Smolny Palace. Probably because she saw your letter, which was written in fluent French. In order to avoid having her family read the letters for her all the time, she asked me to send her to the girls' school. She also told me that in the future, she must not lose to Katya in order to become an outstanding graduate of Smolny Palace Girls' School."

"It sounds like something Julia would say. She writes letters just like she's talking, writing whatever comes to mind. And her French is always misspelled. But I just like her because she's lively, straightforward, and sincere. We'll always be good friends."

Her character is also very simple. For a girl from such a family, she is very well educated. The way she walks is like a dancer, with some lopsided feet, but that's inevitable. It's obvious that she has practiced this. And her outstretched neck makes her look like a little swan.

"Katya, why are you walking like that?"

"I just came back from dance class. Sonya has started taking the class now. Brother Mishka, you have a sister, Polina. Has she started taking dance classes?"

"No, Polina is still too young, let her play happily first."

Although Ekaterina was a little disappointed, she was still a little envious. After all, the atmosphere in the Solovyov family was more relaxed and free than here, and she could even do some of the things she liked.

At this time, the Princess took over the conversation.

"I am proud of my daughter. Her tutor said she can become an excellent dancer. Even a talented child would not practice as hard as she does, especially from a family like ours. Even those hardworking girls in the theater don't practice as long as she does."

"But you still have to take care of your health. Children of this age are growing up. When my sister was sent to the academy, she was much taller than other girls. That's because she got enough nutrition."

Speaking of which, Solovyov himself is a little short of the mark in terms of height.

Paul always keeps him around because he is not tall enough, and the same is true for Alexander. The former wants to avoid appearing too short, while the latter wants to highlight his tall stature.
"It was at that age that I didn't get enough nutrition. Especially with your current figure, although it looks good, it's a little too thin."

"I heard that Her Majesty the Queen has a very beautiful figure. I hope to be like her."

Wow, there’s something to compare it to.

If the family was in St. Petersburg now, little Catherine might have been on the waiting list for a maid in the palace. After she turned 15, she would be approved to become a maid and then enter the palace. After that, they would talk about marriage, and young men from prominent families would start proposing to the girls.

I don’t know which lucky boy will be able to marry such a girl with a good figure, good education and good family background in the future.

(End of this chapter)